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What to do with old Bondi Blue iMac

JSchwage

JSchwage

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
May 5, 2006
592
46
Rochester, NY
I've got this old Bondi Blue iMac just sitting around collecting dust. I just recently moved my TV and Dreamcast out of my bedroom, so there's an empty spot I'd like to fill. I'd like to put my iMac up in my bedroom and maybe use it as somewhat of a DVD player. Unfortunately, the CPU is only 233 MHz, but it does have 256 MB of RAM. I'd probably have to buy a DVD drive also since it only has a CD-ROM drive right now.

I'm going to put Panther on it too. Does anyone know if this iMac will be able to handle playing back DVDs or is this complete waste of time?

Thanks!
 
JSchwage said:
I've got this old Bondi Blue iMac just sitting around collecting dust. I just recently moved my TV and Dreamcast out of my bedroom, so there's an empty spot I'd like to fill. I'd like to put my iMac up in my bedroom and maybe use it as somewhat of a DVD player. Unfortunately, the CPU is only 233 MHz, but it does have 256 MB of RAM. I'd probably have to buy a DVD drive also since it only has a CD-ROM drive right now.

I'm going to put Panther on it too. Does anyone know if this iMac will be able to handle playing back DVDs or is this complete waste of time?

Thanks!
Click to expand...

I'd use it for target practice, but that's just me. :D
 
How dare you! Use it as, like, a stereo ting. I have a Bondi with 32MB RAM which is my fragbox! Use it well, and don't ever, ever throw it away!
 
Actually, I'm installing Panther on it now. I think I may try hooking up my guitar to it and see if I can't record it. I also just noticed I can install Awaken on OS X 10.3.9. I'll probably put some of my music on it so it'll wake me up in the morning with some music. :D
 
JSchwage said:
Actually, I'm installing Panther on it now. I think I may try hooking up my guitar to it and see if I can't record it. I also just noticed I can install Awaken on OS X 10.3.9. I'll probably put some of my music on it so it'll wake me up in the morning with some music. :D
Click to expand...

What I recall is that the bondis had two different video ram configurations; you will need a usb dvd player as they have no firewire.

Outside of ram upgrade, I would put a bigger faster hard drive in it.

The original bondi drives are like a decade old now, it is a cheap upgrade that you can take with you when the CRT finally dies.
 
iMpathetic said:
Ah, great idea! I should try Awaken; does it wowrk on Tiger and Leopard also?
Click to expand...
Yep. Works on everything from 10.3.9 to Leopard.
California said:
What I recall is that the bondis had two different video ram configurations; you will need a usb dvd player as they have no firewire.

Outside of ram upgrade, I would put a bigger faster hard drive in it.

The original bondi drives are like a decade old now, it is a cheap upgrade that you can take with you when the CRT finally dies.
Click to expand...
Actually, I've got a USB to IDE adapter. I'll see if I can hook up one of my DVD drives to that and see if that'll do the trick. Actually, I can't upgrade the RAM any more. I actually have TWO 256 MB sticks in it, but since it only sees up to 128 MB on each slot, I can only take advantage of 256 MB of it. But yes, I am going to buy a new hard drive. It's amazing how freakin loud the old ones are. It almost sounds like they're screaming or something. :p
 
Luckily I have the Bondi Blue iMac, as I had to open it up about 10 times yesterday due to some problems installing Panther. If it had been an iMac DV, it would have been like heck taking the hard drive out.

But it seems to be running Panther pretty nicely, especially considering it had Mac OS 8.5 when I got it. :eek:
 
togermano said:
I remember my first PC with dvd was 400mhz and it played dvds fine.
Click to expand...
Yeah, but mine is 233 MHz. Plus, you didn't say what processor you're talking about. And my iMac doesn't even have a DVD drive in it, so I'd have to hook one up via USB. I'm not sure how well playing DVDs over USB 1.1 would work.
 
JSchwage said:
Yeah, but mine is 233 MHz. Plus, you didn't say what processor you're talking about. And my iMac doesn't even have a DVD drive in it, so I'd have to hook one up via USB. I'm not sure how well playing DVDs over USB 1.1 would work.
Click to expand...

He could open it up and install a super drive. Its not very difficult.
 
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